Maha govt plans to deposit first two instalments of Ladki Bahin Yojana before Raksha Bandhan

Mumbai, Aug 7 (IANS) Amid a rush for enrolment for the Maharashtra government’s much ambitious Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, of the 1.40 crore applications received so far, 1.29 crore have been held valid. The MahaYuti government expects the registrations to further increase as it hopes to deposit two instalments of Rs 1,500 each for July and August to the accounts of the beneficiary women through direct benefit transfer before Raksha Bandhan which falls on August 19. Women from 21 to 65 years of age would get the benefit under the scheme.NCP Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday took an extensive review of the scheme. He added that there has been an overwhelming response from the eligible women for the scheme and the government has resolved to deposit the two instalments for July and August to the eligible beneficiaries before Raksha Bandhan.The Ministry of Women and Child Welfare is the nodal agency for the implementation of the Ladki Bahin scheme. The Ministry, which has launched a portal urging eligible women to register for getting the benefit under the scheme, hopes that by August 31, more than 2.5 crore eligible women will enroll even after considering the 16-17 per cent technical errors.These errors are related to not linking Aadhaar with bank accounts.A Ministry official said that till now, Pune tops the list with the highest number of applications (8.97 lakh), followed by Nashik (7 lakh), Kolhapur (6.50 lakh), and Solapur (5.50 lakh). He added that the number will increase in the days to come.–IANSsj/arm